Why We Love the Dogs We Do: How to Find the Dog That Matches Your Personality [Paperback]

An intriguing idea, but unfortunately not accomplished in this work.

Coren places each breed in one of seven rather indistinct categories: Friendly, Protective, Independent, Self-Assured, Consistent, Steady, Clever.

He tests your personality and indicates which of the groups is best for you. You are then encouraged to choose from among the breeds in that group, breeds he bills as fairly interchangeable compatibility-wise.

A large flaw in this is that no breed is described as having more than one strong characteristic: for example, no breed is listed as both friendly and clever.

Additionally, no other compatibility issues are considered. For example, in matching you with a breed, no consideration is given to the breed's needs/demands for attention and exercise. Nor is consideration given to the breed's tolerance for children and other dogs.

The most noteworthy accomplishment of this book is Coren's very extensive historical description of famous people and their relationships with their dogs, but the contribution of such anecdotes in establishing breed characteristics is rather ambiguous.

Then I can take the other example about what he calls the "clever" dog group. It is much easier for a man to rate "higher" for the clever dogs than a women. And, yes, he makes a distinction between dogs suitable for men and others for women. If a woman is an extrovert she could be happy with an Akita, yet if the man is an extrovert, he should get a clever dog like a poodle. Go figure. I certaintly can't see where he is coming from....or where he is going for that matter.

Oh, and although this isn't my last complaint about this book, it is the last I'll mention--the chapter on "cat people" is truly humiliating for both the cat, and the cat lover.

Don't waste your money on this book. The only interesting thing in it is its list of famous people and the breed of dog they owned. If your looking for a good book to help you choose your next dog, try "The Perfect Match" by Walkowicz, "The right dog for you" by Tortora, or "Choosing a Dog" by Baer. They are all good books with excellent information.

Coren's main premise is that he can match owner personalities with dog personalities. This might be doable, but Coren does this in a very sloppy manner. He takes a bunch of historical figures and celebrities, and presumes to figure out their personalities. For example, he rates Josephine, the wife of Napoleon as medium for extroversion and dominance. Hmmm. Given that she lived two hundred years ago, how accurate can he really be? There's a lot of stuff like this in the book - Coren figuring out personalities based on secondary information.

The second problem with the book is that the groupings of the dogs is very broad, making this exercise almost pointless. How useful is a grouping when Shih Tzu's are grouped with terriers?

The books that I think are much better are: Your Purebred Puppy by Michele Welton and Understanding Dog Mind by Bonnie Bergin.